Chapter 460: A Journey in Search of the Truth (9)

The moment Yangcheon’s fist tore through the air toward him, Gangryang’s eyes captured that fleeting instant with perfect clarity.

Fast. And powerful.

An unimaginable amount of power was concentrated in that fist, which pierced through the wall of air like an awl.

It was a realm Gangryang could scarcely even contemplate reaching with his current abilities. The density of the power, its flow, even the trajectory of the strike that produced geometric ripples in the air—every aspect of it was worthy of admiration.

So a punch like this exists.

It was astonishing that something as ordinary-looking as a punch could contain such intricate circulation of True Qi and such complex currents of force.

Gangryang’s gaze deepened.

But his astonishment lasted only an instant.

So this is how I die.

He could neither dodge nor block it. Nothing he had learned could offer him a way to respond.

The efforts he had accumulated over more than a decade could be wiped away in a single instant.

How fleeting.

Time, which had seemed to slow, suddenly accelerated again at a terrifying pace.

BAAANG!

Considering the speed of the fist, the sound of the exploding air was not particularly loud.

“Cough!”

Gangryang was sent flying thirty feet and vomited a bowlful of blood.

...?!

Astonishingly, he was still alive.

Why does it smell so foul?

Perhaps it was because it was night, but the blood he had coughed up looked unusually dark.

The smell rising from it was pungent and intensely foul, almost as though he had been poisoned.

Gangryang looked up at Yangcheon.

Yangcheon stood with his hands clasped behind his back, looking down at him.

“...What was that?”

“What was what?”

Gangryang got to his feet.

The dull ache spreading through his chest felt as though it would linger for days. The blow had been that painful.

Yet his body was now far cleaner on the inside than it had been before. The blood he had coughed up contained a minute amount of turbid energy that had been concentrated and expelled from his body—energy whose presence he had not even been aware of.

Gangryang gazed at Yangcheon for a moment before asking again.

“Why would you do me such a favor?”

Indeed, it had been a favor.

What was more, Gangryang had openly declared that he intended to kill Yangcheon. Yet Yangcheon had actually removed the turbid energy from the body of a man who had sworn to take his life.

Yangcheon shook his head.

“Don’t misunderstand. I’m not insane enough to help a man who says he intends to kill me.”

“But...”

“It’s just that the Fighting King’s pride is far greater than you imagine.”

The corners of Yangcheon’s eyes twitched.

It was difficult to tell whether he was smiling or frowning. His expression was a peculiar one.

“Dangerous as you may be, how could you possibly compare to Yeon Hojeong? And even Yeon Hojeong cannot compare to a master of the Supreme Heavens. Not yet, at least.”

“......”

“There are so many people in the world who want me dead that I couldn’t possibly count them all. One more talented young man joining their ranks isn’t going to change my life.”

Yangcheon looked up at the sky.

The exceptionally bright moonlight seemed to stir something within him as well. His gaze, ordinarily as hard as steel, appeared to soften a little.

“As the Lord of Ink Dragon Manor, you are someone I must kill. But Yangcheon the Fighting King would regret cutting short the growth of a young talent who could serve as such a fine stimulus to his disciples.”

Yangcheon looked at Gangryang again.

Even now, Gangryang’s eyes remained perfectly steady.

Yangcheon smiled.

“Think of it as me putting things back the way they were. If I hadn’t come here, you would have crossed the Wall of Martial Arts and entered a whole new world. I may not be able to help you cross that wall immediately, but I can at least give you a few stepping stones.”

After regarding Gangryang for another moment, Yangcheon began walking toward the restaurant.

“That was an impressive sword dance. You still have a long way to go, but at least you haven’t strayed from the right path.”

Yangcheon walked away calmly, as though he had said everything he had come to say.

Watching his retreating figure, Gangryang momentarily felt something toward his sworn enemy that he would ordinarily have found difficult to feel.

...Is this what it means to be a grandmaster?

Gangryang spoke.

“I imagine you’ve heard this countless times before.”

“Hmm?”

“You’ll regret this.”

Yangcheon paused.

But only for a moment. Then he raised a hand and waved it conspicuously.

“If you become stronger than me, and I fall fighting an opponent like you, I won’t regret it in the slightest.”

“Then I suppose I’ll have to wait until you grow weak.”

“Unfortunately, that moment will never come. You’ll become stronger long before that happens.”

With those words, Yangcheon disappeared into the restaurant.

Left alone, Gangryang reflected on what he had said.

I’ll become stronger before he grows weak...

What extraordinary confidence.

After all, those words meant that Yangcheon believed he would never weaken, not even until the day he died.

But what if he interpreted those words another way?

You won’t grow weaker, but you believe I can become stronger than you even so.

Gangryang did not know what Yangcheon had intended by saying it.

What mattered was that his sworn enemy, an absolute master counted among the greatest in the martial world, had acknowledged him as a martial artist.

And that realization did not move Gangryang very much.

“To most martial artists of the Dark Path, you may well be a great man deserving of respect. But to me, you can never be anything more or less than an enemy with whom I cannot live beneath the same sky.”

Gangryang rubbed his chest.

He did not regard Yangcheon’s assistance as a favor. By the same token, he did not believe that Yangcheon was responsible for his failure to cross the Wall of Martial Arts.

It was simply because he had not been good enough.

Had he truly been focused, he would have found a way to cross that wall regardless of whether Yangcheon appeared.

Of course, Yangcheon’s reaction might have been rather different if he had.

“Yaaaawn!”

Gangryang stretched.

The pain was still there, but he felt refreshed.

At the same time, he was utterly exhausted.

“I’d better get a good night’s sleep. Damn, that really hurts. I wonder if that old bastard deliberately left me with the pain.”

*****

With two bright lamps and a single candle burning nearby, Yeon Hojeong sat drinking alone.

CREAK. CREAK.

The sound of creaking stairs echoed through the room.

Yeon Hojeong turned an overturned cup upright.

A moment later, Yangcheon appeared.

“It’s been a while.”

“Have you been well?”

“What a charming scene. Drinking alone on a moonlit night... It seems you have some appreciation for atmosphere.”

“I’ve prepared some good wine. Have a seat.”

“Gladly.”

Yangcheon strode over and sat opposite Yeon Hojeong.

His expression was gentle, as though he had come to visit a close friend. The same could be said of his gait and the air about him.

Yeon Hojeong sighed.

Yangcheon tilted his head.

“What’s with the sudden sigh?”

“Have you attained some new enlightenment since we last met? Somehow, you seem even more difficult to deal with now.”

It was an entirely candid observation.

Yangcheon found Yeon Hojeong’s perceptiveness and reaction remarkable. Just as he had told his disciple, this brat knew far too well how to deal with people.

“Thanks to you. Ever since I got rid of that damned poison, I’ve had a lot more peace of mind.”

“It seems I did something I shouldn’t have.”

“If you hadn’t, your life would have become considerably more difficult, wouldn’t it?”

Yeon Hojeong chuckled.

“I can’t deny that.”

“Enough of your nonsense. Fill my cup.”

“As you wish.”

A moment later, the two men clinked their cups together and drained them in one smooth motion.

“Ugh! Didn’t you say this was good wine?”

“Not to your liking?”

“Isn’t this taking simplicity a little too far? How can cheap baijiu be considered good wine?”

“I haven’t found anything better suited to my tastes.”

“Keep drinking this rubbish and you’ll ruin your stomach.”

“If my stomach were that delicate, I’d have fallen ill and died long ago. Anyway...”

Yeon Hojeong gave him a meaningful smile.

“Why did you do something so unlike yourself, Manor Lord?”

Yangcheon feigned ignorance.

“I have no idea what you mean.”

“I’m talking about Gangryang.”

Yangcheon felt unexpectedly embarrassed. He had thought Yeon Hojeong was referring to Putuo.

“He isn’t someone who would have caught your eye just yet.”

“If his martial abilities had been enough to catch my eye, I would already have taken his head.”

“That won’t do. I suppose I’ll have to spend more time training myself.”

“Hahaha.”

Yeon Hojeong’s voice grew somewhat serious.

“No one can know what the future holds, but if the day comes when our relationship is severed, I have a feeling that your head will fall not by my hand, but by his.”

“Or, on the other hand...”

Yangcheon filled Yeon Hojeong’s cup as he spoke.

“All of you may die by my hand. In fact, I’d say that’s the more likely outcome.”

“You have a point.”

“How easy and comfortable life would be if everything went according to plan. Then again, an easy and comfortable life would be no fun at all.”

“You have a point there as well.”

The two men emptied their cups again.

Yangcheon grimaced at the harsh taste of the baijiu and spoke with a sigh.

“I received the gift you sent me.”

Yeon Hojeong chuckled.

“All I did was wrap it.”

“I know. If he’d fallen into your hands, he would have arrived with every bone in his body smashed to pieces.”

“That might actually have been better. Losing an arm is devastating for a martial artist.”

“If sacrificing an arm allows him to reach a higher level, wouldn’t that make it a worthwhile trade? Losing a leg would be another matter.”

He means it.

Yeon Hojeong realized that Yangcheon was speaking in complete earnest.

“I did think he wasn’t someone you were particularly attached to.”

“I treat my disciples with the utmost equality. I believe in equal instruction and equal treatment. But those who manage to claw their way up from there receive everything I can give them.”

“Like your second disciple?”

“Precisely.”

For an instant, Yangcheon’s eyes grew cold.

“Nevertheless, however foolish and ill-mannered he may be, he is still my disciple. The title ‘disciple of the Fighting King’ has not disappeared from before Jeon Hong’s name.”

“A fortunate thing. That’s why he’s still alive.”

“The successor to the destroyed Ghost Sword has overwhelmed the Third Young Master of Ink Dragon Manor and humiliated him beyond measure. I trust you understand just how troublesome a matter this is.”

“That’s why I said it was °• N ?? v ?? l i g h t •° fortunate.”

“If he had simply killed him, I could at least have made a show of magnanimously forgiving him.”

“Do you mean that?”

Yangcheon glared at Yeon Hojeong with icy eyes, then broke into a smile.

“As expected, threats of this degree don’t faze you in the slightest.”

“If you had truly taken offense, Gangryang wouldn’t have survived.”

“You never cease to amaze me. Your insight really is extraordinary.”

Yeon Hojeong smiled quietly and refilled Yangcheon’s cup.

“In any case, your disciple was the one who started the trouble. Let’s agree to consider the matter settled.”

“Very well.”

The two men emptied their cups once more.

With three rounds of drinks finished, the conversation finally turned to the matter at hand.

“I trust you know why I invited you here, Manor Lord.”

“Are we finished playing games and testing each other?”

“We are.”

“Then I’ll acknowledge it. Yes, I know perfectly well why you invited me here.”

Yeon Hojeong’s gaze grew still.

At that moment, Yangcheon sensed it.

Having settled matters in Guangdong, Yeon Hojeong had grown yet another level beyond the man Yangcheon had seen before.

Even before considering his enlightenment or Inner Qi, Yangcheon instinctively sensed that something about him had changed.

“Was it you who reduced Putuo Hermitage to its present state, Manor Lord?”

Yangcheon admitted it in an almost cheerful voice.

“There could hardly be a more certain fact.”

“I understand perfectly well that, as the Lord of Ink Dragon Manor, you would consider Putuo Hermitage’s Sword Empress a thorn in your side.”

“...So you knew.”

“But I have a feeling that wasn’t your only reason—”

“Forgive me, but there’s something I’d like to ask you first.”

“Go ahead.”

Yangcheon’s face became expressionless.

“How far are you prepared to go to destroy the Perverse Lust Cult?”

“...?!”

“Are you prepared to sacrifice everything you have?”

The corners of Yeon Hojeong’s mouth rose.